On Having Eyetwitches: A One Shot
by thwarth
Summary: A Oneshot about Akane and Ranma and their talk the evening after the failed wedding. Originally a prologue for Hippocrates; it didn't set the right tone for that story, but I didn't want to scrap it, so I turned it into 1400 words of fluff.


It was quiet in the dojo. The last of the guests had left and Soun and Genma were in the tearoom crying and drunk. Kasumi had retreated into the kitchen feeling discouraged and overwhelmed by the damage and destruction. Nabiki was in her room tallying up the cash from the guests and calculating the damages done to the dojo. Ranma was sitting on the middle of the floor of the dojo in thinking. He came out here originally to clean up and had actually made quite a dent in the mess, but he had gotten discouraged so he sat down. It didn't help things that he had been bombed and attacked with a real sword. He was feeling depressed because tonight he should have been married. It was an easy solution to all his problems one wife no more fiancées. No, he thought to himself, if he had gotten married today then tonight would have been his wedding night and that would have created as many problems as his fiancés had. You've never even worked up the guts to kiss her. A wedding night at this point would be a very bad idea. Now things would go back to how they were and somehow the thought depressed him. He heard a noise behind him and he could tell from the foot steps that it was Akane.

Akane looked at Ranma he was still wearing his dirty tux. His face was dirty and he was just kind of staring at nothing. She thought back to earlier in the day and how handsome he had looked. A little thrill went through her when she first saw him. She was so torn about the wedding. A part of her really wanted to be married. If things hadn't gotten interrupted today she would be married. Married to Ranma. That would mean that tonight would be their wedding night. She blushed at the thought and decided that maybe it was for the best that she hadn't married someone who she had never even kissed. Besides in her head she could see what a disaster her wedding night could be with her thick thighs and his diarrhea of the mouth they would probably come to blows. No, they were still too young, she knew that in her head, but a small part of her heart was terribly disappointed about the outcome of the day.

"Hey," he said tonelessly.

"Hi there, I came to see if you were hungry," she said cautiously.

Without turning around he said, "No. No I'm not hungry right now."

"Do you mind if I sit?

"No go ahead if you can find a clear spot on the floor."

He took a sideway look at her. She wasn't wearing her wedding dress anymore. She was carrying a cup of water in two hands that were trembling slightly.

"I just finished helping Dr. Tofu patch up the last of the guests," she said quietly.

He nodded. Akane was good at patching people up. He would know she'd done it enough for him.

"What a day," she huffed sitting down, her water sloshing in her cup.

"Yeah," he grunted noncommittally.

"I don't even know what to think about it. Do you?"

"Do I know what? How you think? No, if I knew that I would get malleted a lot less."

"Idiot. I'm trying to have a serious conversation with you." She said slugging his arm in exasperation.

"I know, Akane, but I don't think I can do it right now," his voice was so tired and defeated that Akane couldn't think of anything to say. So they sat in silence for a while.

"I'm sorry you lost your cure," she said in a small voice.

"I guess it's part of being cursed. I never seem to be able to get cured even when the stuff is right in front of me," he said bitterly.

"Ranma, I know that you want to be cured. I want you to be cured because I know that you would be happier, but even if you never find a cure it doesn't bother me."

He looked up at her with skepticism written all over his face.

"How can it not bother you to be engaged to a sex changing freak?"

"I don't know. I guess I am just used to it. It's not something you can control-kind of like an eye twitch or something."

"An eye twitch?" His tone was one of disbelief, but the more he thought about it the funnier it became.

"What? I was trying to be nice." Her voice rose an octave in indignation as she felt her peace offering thrown back in her face.

"I'm sorry Akane," he said as the laughter escaped out of his mouth, "an eye twitch. You think that what happens to me when I mix with water is like an eye twitch?" He could barely get the words out of his mouth.

Her huffy response died on her lips. Ranma looked happier then she had seen him in a long time. A warm glow started in her chest. She had made him laugh. He had a crummy day and she had made him smile even if it was unintentional. She started to laugh too. It was probably the fact that they were so tired. It had been such a disappointing day. It might have been that their lives had crashed down around them yet again. It seemed that they needed a release and they sought it in laughter. They were both in shock, but for some reason once they started laughing they couldn't stop. The two teenagers sat on the floor of the dojo and laughed until they cried and just when they thought they were under control again they would look at each other and bust up. Finally Akane made a move to get up.

"I'm really tired. I'll see you tomorrow ok."

Ranma looked at her. Her face was pink and her eyes were still sparkling with tears of laughter. She looked so beautiful. He quickly blushed and looked away from her face down to her hands and that is when he noticed the bandages on her arms.

"Akane, did you get hurt today?" his voice was tinged with concern.

"Just some burns and I didn't get out of the way of one of Uyko's spatulas in time. No big deal."

His face darkened. "I'm so sorry about everything."

Akane desperate to get the lighthearted feeling back that existed a moment ago gave him s smile and said, "I'm really glad that we didn't end up getting married today. I could never marry a guy wearing a white tux. Good night."

Ranma's heart plummeted at the first part of her statement, but as the comment was obviously her attempted at humor, the words didn't carry any sting.

"Oh yea, well I could never marry a girl who…" he paused. He couldn't say anything about how she looked today because she had looked stunning. He sought for some insult he could throw her way that wouldn't hurt her feelings, but he drew a blank.

"Who what Ranma?" Akane's voice had lowered to a growl. The idiot was going to ruin a perfect moment by actually insulting her!

"I could never marry a girl who uses as much soap as you?" His voice came up at the end of the statement making it more of a question. His eyebrows raised in some kind of plea and Akane didn't know if it was a plea not to hit him or a plea to laugh at his completely random statement.

She let out a laugh, smiled brilliantly at him and cheekily replied, "I guess we each have our problems don't we? I use too much soap and you have an eye twitch."

She left him laughing on the floor.

That night as he lay himself down for bed he thought about the day and the ruined wedding. He thought about the bombs and how angry he was at people who kept sticking their noses' in his business. He thought about his fiancé problems and how they always seemed to plague him. He thought about the fact that he was still trapped with his curse. Then he thought about what Akane said, "I want you to be cured because I know that you would be happier, but even if you never find a cure it doesn't bother me." He smiled. Perhaps it wasn't such a bad day after all.


End file.
